[When Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope] Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.

Tags

My elderly and philandering next door neighbor had an affair in the early 70's with Vonnegut. She's really proud of herself. Kurt must have been looking to buy an envelope.

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grantschultz

My favorite Kurt Vonnegut story is something like this: Kurt and his brother are talking about doing odd jobs around their homes. The brother says, "Whenever I start a job, I usually lose my tools before I finish." And Kurt says, "Before I finish a job I usually lose whatever it is I'm working on." You gotta love it.

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Pat

Fantastic quote! Ah, I agree with Kurt though. A single envelope -- I may go and dance my way across town to get one too. It's the dance, not the excuse.

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Don LaVange

this is a great quote, but he'd been working that line for decades. i remember reading the very same phrase -- "we're here on earth to fart around" -- in probably 1981 or so in reference to going down to the post office to buy a stamp.

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Nathan Rein

Great insight into life. I too worry about Computer people and if I am becoming one. Speaking of Dance I did just that on my Vlog.